June 17, 2007 Sermon

Moses Dies
Deuteronomy 34

After forty-plus years of leading the Hebrews, with all the headaches and hardships involved, Moses dies. And he dies after seeing—but not entering—the Promised Land. How harsh is that?

God shows Moses a great swath of territory from a mountain on the edge of the Promised Land. “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” God says, adding, “I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.” A short time later, Moses dies. The text tells us God buries him in a secret location. Even in death Moses cannot catch a break. Even should his people later decide to honor him by moving his body into a new grave in the Promised Land, they will not be able to find him.

Why did God treat Moses so harshly? Moses has spent his life doing God’s bidding. He has faced off against the Pharaoh. He has led thousands of Israelites through the sea and across the desert. He has performed miracles with God’s power. Twice he has received the Law directly from God. He has resolved disputes, exercised leadership under horrific conditions, and stood up for God when the people complained. And for this God makes Moses die before his toes touch the land toward which he has bent his will and his body for more than a generation?

Well, yes. God does punish Moses. God punishes Moses for a lack of faith. The text waffles as to whether that lack of faith was Moses’ own, or the people’s. We discussed this at Bible study last Tuesday. One of us recalled that God had promised to punish Moses for his own loss of faith at one specific moment in the forty years of wandering through the desert. Another of us recalled that God had promised to punish Moses for the people’s loss of faith at a different moment. Ultimately it does not matter. God has decreed punishment. Moses will suffer it.

Even now that they’ve arrived, the Israelites had better obey God’s Law. We cannot overstate the importance the Law of God has for the Jewish people, then and now. Not only must they obey it, God chooses them to receive it. They have become God’s unique people. Now we, who have inherited God’s promises through faith in Jesus, receive the Law. We read it. We must obey it. But does that save us?

A week ago Saturday the New York Post carried the story of a man who turned himself in at a Greenwich Village police station for a murder he had committed three years ago. The case was closed. The detectives had stopped looking for the killer. But recently the man, Michael Mohr (I kid you not, Traverse City), had a religious experience, becoming a follower of Jesus. His reading of the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments made him feel guilty. Jesus speaks of how even imagining the killing of a person makes one a murderer. And the ninth commandment forbids lying. The Post quoted a “law enforcement source” referring to Mohr: “He was a little emotional. He was just glad to get it off his chest.” He could no longer live with having broken the law so profoundly. Did obeying the Law save, or imprison, him?

Does observance of the Law save, or imprison, us? Moses tried hard to keep the Law. He often succeeded. Yet he could not obey God indefinitely. No human being can. The ending of Deuteronomy makes it clear that no greater prophet, no greater man, has ever lived. Yet Moses endured a hard punishment. Since we cannot do any better than him what place can the Law have in our lives? Is the Law just God’s nasty joke on us, or does the Law somehow help us draw nearer to salvation?

Here, as so often, John Calvin gives us answers. Calvin wrote that the Law has three uses: it convicts us of our sin, it convinces us of God’s grace, and it directs our lives. Put God’s Law in its correct place in your life. Remember: the Law convicts; Jesus saves. We have already seen from the example of Moses that the Law convicts all people. Nobody can obey God’s Law perfectly. God’s perfect system of justice convicts us all. We’re all guilty. Nobody truly deserves to enter the Promised Land.

But how can God create us, then create impossible rules by which we must live? It seems unfair. How can John Calvin claim that such a Law convinces us of God’s grace? Simple, Calvin wrote. God’s Law is perfect. We fail to keep it. God saves us, in Christ, anyway. If Moses’ death on the verge of entering the Promised Land were the end of God’s story it would be unjust. But the story continues. God’s plan unfolds. Because Moses led the Israelites through the desert, they could establish themselves in it. Because they lived in it, the prophets could speak God’s word through the centuries. Because the prophets foretold it, when Jesus appeared he could be seen as the Messiah. And because he lived and died in accordance with God’s plan, we face a choice.

The choice is not, as some think, whether to obey the Law. The choice is whether to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Calvin wrote that the last use of the Law is to guide us. He chose the word “guide” very carefully. The Law is our guide to right living, not our roadmap to salvation. We do not enter into God’s presence through behaving ourselves. We enter into God’s presence by believing in Jesus as the Messiah. We keep the Law as saved members of Christ’s body, not as candidates for joining it. Obedience comes after salvation, not before it. The Law convicts; Jesus saves. Obey the Law and rejoice that God’s grace has already saved you, no matter how poorly you might behave! Calvin illustrated this point by imagining two men: one a wild sinner who believes in Jesus sincerely, the other a well-behaved unbeliever. Let us update his test case to see how it might play out in today’s world.

One man has remained faithful to his wife their entire marriage. He loves their kids. He has a decent job; he and his wife make enough for the family to meet all its obligations. People think of him as a nice guy. He coaches a youth soccer team. He more or less obeys the speed limit. He does not cheat on his income taxes. He calls his mom every weekend. His parents took him to church until he was sixteen. When he got his driver’s license he also got a job to pay for gas. Since then he has never gone back to church. He never really thought about it or made a conscious decision, but he no longer believes in God. Jesus was a great man, he feels, and it makes sense to try to live according to his teachings. The world would be a better place if everybody did. But he cannot accept that the miracles and the resurrection were for real.

A second man has a criminal record. During one stretch in prison he became a drug addict. He had a child with a girl he never married. It was a long time ago and honestly, he can’t remember if the baby was a boy or a girl. He never holds a job for long because eventually he rebels against the boss, gets into an argument and gets fired. He has cheated to extend his welfare benefits. But during another time in jail a group of fellow prisoners introduced him to Jesus. He resisted for a time, but eventually prayed for faith and—against all odds—God granted his prayer. He struggles to go to church because he fears the people are all judging him. (They know him.) Yet he does believe in Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

John Calvin and the Bible agree: only one of these men is saved, and it’s not Mr. Nice Guy. Is this fair? No. Does that matter? No. Pray that your faith in Jesus might grow ever stronger. And then pray that you might obey the Law of God. Obeying the Law does not save us. It did not save even Moses. But obeying the Law pleases God. And as God’s saved people we ought to say “thank you” to God with our obedience.